Nearly 1,700 Suspected Child Sex Predators Arrested During Operation “Broken Heart”

The Justice Department released the below information:

The Department of Justice today announced the arrest of almost 1,700 suspected online child sex offenders during a two-month, nationwide operation conducted by Internet Crimes Against Children task forces. The task forces identified 308 offenders who either produced child pornography or committed child sexual abuse, and 357 children who suffered recent, ongoing or historical sexual abuse or were exploited in the production of child pornography.

The 61 ICAC task forces, located in all 50 states and comprised of more than 4,500 federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies, led the coordinated operation known as “Broken Heart” during the months of April and May 2019. During the course of the operation, the task forces investigated more than 18,500 complaints of technology-facilitated crimes targeting children and delivered more than 2,150 presentations on internet safety to over 201,000 youth and adults.

"The sexual abuse of children is repugnant, and it victimizes the most innocent and vulnerable of all," Attorney General William P. Barr said. "We must bring the full force of the law against sexual predators, and with the help of our Internet Crimes Against Children program, we will. Over the span of just two months, our ICAC task forces investigated more than 18,000 complaints of internet-related abuse and helped arrest 1,700 alleged abusers. I would like to thank our Office of Justice Programs, all of the task force members, and especially the state and local partners who helped us achieve these important results. We are committed to bringing the defendants in these cases to justice and protecting every American child."

The operation targeted suspects who: (1) produce, distribute, receive and possess child pornography; (2) engage in online enticement of children for sexual purposes; (3) engage in the sex trafficking of children; and (4) travel across state lines or to foreign countries and sexually abuse children.

The ICAC Program is funded through the Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) within the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). In 1998, OJJDP launched the ICAC Task Force Program to help federal, state and local law enforcement agencies enhance their investigative responses to offenders who use the internet, online communication systems or computer technology to exploit children. To date, ICAC task forces have reviewed more than 922,000 complaints of child exploitation, which have resulted in the arrest of more than 95,500 individuals. In addition, since the ICAC program's inception, more than 708,500 law enforcement officers, prosecutors and other professionals have been trained on techniques to investigate and prosecute ICAC-related cases.

For more information, visit the ICAC Task Force webpage. For state-level Operation Broken Heart results, please contact the appropriate state ICAC task force commander. Contact information for task force commanders is available online.

The Office of Justice Programs, directed by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Matt M. Dummermuth, provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance, and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, assist victims and enhance the rule of law by strengthening the criminal justice system. More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.

FBI: Child Sexual Exploitation Threat From Pedophiles Online Is ‘Vast And Extensive’

The FBI released the above photo and the below report:

The case of a Tennessee man sentenced last month to 21 years in prison on child pornography charges serves as an important reminder to parents and children about the dangers of an online world where things are not always as they appear and pedophiles may be lurking around many virtual corners.

Brian K. Hendrix was convicted earlier this year in connection with his operation of two websites whose sole purpose was to trick children into engaging in sexually explicit activity that he and his co-conspirators were secretly recording. An investigation identified more than 300 American children who were victims—some as young as 8 years old—and an estimated 1,600 other youths who were lured to the websites.

The pedophiles tricked their young victims by creating fake profiles on social networking sites, where they posed as teenagers to lure children to their websites. When the youngsters landed on the sites, the 42-year-old Hendrix and his criminal colleagues showed them pre-recorded sexual videos of prior victims to make the new victims think they were chatting with their peers.

Once lured to the websites, the criminals—masquerading as teens—used sophisticated psychological tactics to coerce many of the children to engage in sexually explicit activity using the cameras on their tablets, smartphones, and desktop computers—all of which the adults recorded.

“Hendrix was one of several main members of the conspiracy,” said Special Agent Paul Cha of the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Section. “Pedophiles are very active online,” he said. “Their numbers are vast, and their reach is extensive. They track children’s activities. When they realized how popular chat sites are with children, they found a way to exploit it.”

The FBI-led investigation, dubbed Operation Subterfuge, has thus far resulted in the conviction of eight others besides Hendrix, with average prison sentences ranging between 18 and 21 years. Cha explained that most of the children caught up in the exploitation had no idea they had been victimized.

The majority of the victims were American, but victims were also located in Canada and several other countries. Because of the large number of children impacted, investigators enlisted the help of the FBI’s Office for Victim Assistance to inform parents about the crimes and to offer assistance. When contacted by the FBI, Cha said, “Many of the parents were in complete shock.”

The victims and their families came from all social and economic backgrounds, according to Special Agent Daniel Johns, an Operation Subterfuge investigator. “There were victims who came from good homes with very active, stable parents.”

Pedophiles are experts at grooming and coercing youngsters, Johns said, and sometimes as many as 20 adults posing as teens were on the websites, manipulating children. “Their coercive tactics—that constant barrage on a child’s mind—succeeded in breaking down their barriers,” he said. “These tactics have been perfected by predators to make a child feel bad. And the adults were all working together. In a lot of cases, the kids really didn’t stand a chance.”

Johns, a veteran child exploitation investigator, said this case represented a level of sophistication on the part of pedophiles he has never seen before. “From creating their own website to giving that website the ability to record the criminal activity and then to be able to download it—along with the sophistication, coordination, and grooming to be able to break down all the child’s barriers—is disconcerting.”

Increasingly, children of all ages own or have access to devices that allow them to get online. Johns urges parents to follow a few simple rules when it comes to social networking sites and Internet usage in general for children: “Tell your kids that if they haven’t met the person in real life, they shouldn’t be friends online,” he said, adding, “Limit your child’s device usage to common areas of the household, and store those devices in your bedroom at night.”